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Advice Needed - Jumping Ponies

Could anyone give me some helpful advice on ideally matching a young rider to a pony in terms of size, for short-stirrup and jumping? I keep hearing from our trainer that my daughter's legs are too short for a pony a friend owns and which we have a great lease and board deal on (for obvious reasons). As far as I can tell, my daughter is jumping this pony just fine and did well on him in walk-trot this past season (not spectacularly, but just fine).

The trainer is pushing us to look at leases for other ponies that would cost us twice as much, and I am not sure I am understanding why the current pony is so unsuitable for jumping.

Can anyone help elucidate for me if there is really a major issue with matching a rider's legs to a pony's girth. Is it a show issue? A safety issue? A control issue?

I know what my trainer has said, but as I have heard before, I also know he is running a business and it is part of his bread and butter to turn over leases and sales regularly, and he doesn't get 10% of a lease that continues in place, only one that turns over.

Unless you are doing the Division Ponies and Pony Medal at the rateds, safety and building confedence is the most important thing for youngsters.

She gets better as a rider and showing against top competition? You can worry about size suitability.

I'd hang on to that affordable and safe Pony for Short Stirrup and itty bitty jumping as long as I could...long as her feet aren't dragging.

Just tell trainer thanks but this one works fine for where she is at now. And keep saying that because you are right, that is his business and you can't blame him for hoping someday you will say yes and pitching likely prospects at you.

I'm the mom and trainer for my 2 daughters, age 11 and 8 and I have tried everything through the years, so here's my 2 cents.

For the tiny kids I like a bigger pony. A slab sided medium or small large is perfect. The step is slower, so they don't have to post as fast and the canter is more rocking horse. Also, the bigger ones really just canter over the little short stirrup jumps, so they don't jump the kids off when they get to a huge long spot. I also like something with a good motor. I don't want one that is a workout for the kid to keep going.

Now, at the better shows, the judges do take suitability into account and it may hurt your placings, but safety is the most important factor. Most local shows, you will see a lot of tiny kids on big ponies and horses and no one cares.

If this pony is safe, kind and does his job, then I would keep him. The devil you know is always better than the one you don't know. If she keeps riding and wants to really start in the Children's or Pony Hunters then go find one that fits and is fancy enough to win.

Stay with the pony. I did the short stirrup on a horse when I was little and while I definitely was the only one not on a pony most of time, it never hurt my placings. If I rode well, I did well.

If you daughter is comfortable on the pony (not scared of the height) and the pony is safe, then there is no reason you need anything else. If you daughter just did walk trot then it sounds like she will also get a lot of use out of the pony before she even needs to think about whether she (you!) want something else for the children's ponies.

[QUOTE=BarnMom64;6664031]Could anyone give me some helpful advice on ideally matching a young rider to a pony in terms of size, for short-stirrup and jumping? I keep hearing from our trainer that my daughter's legs are too short for a pony a friend owns and which we have a great lease and board deal on (for obvious reasons). As far as I can tell, my daughter is jumping this pony just fine and did well on him in walk-trot this past season (not spectacularly, but just fine).

The trainer is pushing us to look at leases for other ponies that would cost us twice as much, and I am not sure I am understanding why the current pony is so unsuitable for jumping.

Can anyone help elucidate for me if there is really a major issue with matching a rider's legs to a pony's girth. Is it a show issue? A safety issue? A control issue?

Can she keep him cantering? or does she have difficulty with that because her legs are short? Is she getting popped up in the tack when she jumps? or seems ok? maybe she cant either get the changes or the pony doesnt do the changes. Depending on the level of showing you do, lead changes do count in ss. Maybe there is something about the pony the trainer is not telling you because it is your friends pony and he doesnt want to badmouth the pony. The majority of trainers want their clients to be successful. Maybe it is a rat when it starts jumping at the shows or doesnt stay sound - was it doing the ss job successfully before? If so, and your child can keep it cantering, and it has a lead change, and she feels confident jumping it THEN maybe your trainer just wants to go to the ring with a prettier one, or one he made some more commish on, and you can confidently say, I'm good with the one I've got thanks!!

If you aren't competing, or expecting to be competitive at rated competitions, then a safe pony is the most suitable, regardless of size. Perhaps there are other things wrong with the pony (like it is a bad mover or has an unorthodox jumping style) that will keep it from being competitive, and in order to spare yor feelings, the trainer is making up some other sort of problem?